76 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Hypholoma fascicularis the mycelium had the familiar odour of woods. 

 The author gives a particular account of the development of Collylia 

 tuberosa. The Oidium formed a colony of oidia and from the colony 

 was developed the sclerotium which produced the higher fruit form. 

 From all his experiments he gathers that the Oidium form is a definite 

 stage in the life-cycle of many of the higher fungi, and that under 

 proper conditions these will again be reproduced. In the case of Oidium 

 lactis this property is lost and no higher form is ever developed, though 

 from cultivation and comparison with other forms the writer thinks that 

 this Oidium should be placed near the ascomycetous fungus Endomyces. 



Critical Notes.* — C. A. J. A. Oudemans passes in review a large 

 number of species of Fungi, rectifying mistakes that he has discovered 

 in description, quotation, or nomenclature. He has found something to 

 correct in 37 species of published fungi. 



Sap of Fungi as an Antidote to the Venom of Serpents.! — 

 X. Gillot publishes an account of work carried on in this connection by 

 C. Phisalix and others. They used sap extracted directly from the fungi 

 or a decoction obtained by 24 hours' maceration in water. They em- 

 ployed several species of fungi, Amanita muscarius, A. mappa, Lactarius 

 torminosus, L. theiogalus, all poisonous species ; but even with Agaricus 

 campestris, an edible fungus, the animals experimented on died when 

 a large dose was used. With smaller doses all these fungi made the 

 animals immune to the venom of serpents. The period of immunity 

 lasted from 15 days to a month. 



Photography of Fungi.} — Leon Roland gives his methods of de- 

 colorising fungi before photographing theni, by which means he secures 

 good and true representations of the plants. He also records successful 

 results from the employment of a decoction of Amanita mappa and 

 other funsri as an accelerating solution. 



*& 



Schizophyta. 

 Schizophycese. 



/Chemical Composition of Oscillaria prolifica.§ — Isabel Hyams 

 and Ellen Richards give an analysis of dried Oscillaria at various stages 

 of its growth, and also analyses of the water in which it occurred. 

 The proportion of silica in the plant is remarkable, and with some 

 other characteristics indicates an approach to the condition found in 

 diatoms. This large amount of silica accounts for the remarkable 

 stability of the framework or tissue of the plant which persists all the 

 year round. 



New Species of Fischerella.|| — Maurice Gomont describes and 

 figures a plant growing in the greenhouses of the Budapesth Museum, 

 and names it Fischerella major. The principal interest of this plant 

 lies in the fact that it possesses spores, which are formed under condi- 

 tions which are unfavourable to the normal growth of the alga. Their 



* Rev. Myc, xxiv. (1902) pp. 98-115. t Op. cit., pp. 125-7. 



X Op. cit., pp. 85-8. § Teehnol. Quarterly (Boston), xv. pp. 308-15. 



|| Journ. <ie Hot., ix. (1902) pp. 291-300 (1 pi.). 



